Many thanks to Benefits And Work.

The latest work capability assessment (WCA) outcome statistics released last week show an extraordinary rise in the proportion of claimants qualifying for employment and support allowance (ESA) and a truly massive increase in the proportion being placed in the support group since the coalition came to power.

The most recent statistics cover the period from July to September 2013.

They show that 27% of new ESA claimants were found fit for work.

In the quarter immediately before the coalition came to power, on the other hand, the proportion of claimants being found fit for work was 61%.

So the percentage being found fit for work under IDS has more than halved.

But it’s the increase in the proportion of claimants being put in the support group that has been the most astonishing. When IDs became a minister it stood at 10%.

It is now an extraordinary 57% of new claimants being put straight into the support group.

In other words, you are almost six times as likely to be put into the support group under the coalition as you were under Labour.

Meanwhile, the proportion of new ESA claimants being placed in the work-related activity group has fallen from 29% to 16%.

It’s true that there is such a massive backlog of ESA claims now that these figures may change when all the assessments have been done: there has been a particularly big rise in support group percentages in last three quarters that stats are available for.

But this isn’t just a blip: the proportion going into the support group has risen every single quarter since IDS took over. It had more than trebled by the beginning of 2012.

So, whilst the DWP press office has been crowing this week about an almost 90% reduction in appeal rates, they are keeping very quiet indeed about the growing proportion of ESA claimants who have no reason whatsoever to appeal.

You can download the full set of WCA outcome statistics here.

Many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Evidence given to the Commons Work and Pensions committee by the DWP and by Atos last week has shed a little more light on the confusion around which groups of employment and support allowance (ESA) claimants are currently being sent for a work capability (WCA) medical assessment.

Currently there is a backlog of 700,000 cases awaiting assessment. According to information given to the BBC by the DWP:

• 394,000 are new claimants for ESA.
• 234,000 are existing ESA claimants whose re-referrals have been delayed.
• 84,000 are people still on incapacity benefit who have not yet been moved over to ESA.

New claims
New claims are still being sent to Atos for assessment in the normal way, but because of the backlog they are taking much longer to be seen.

IB to ESA reassessments
There are still 800,000 incapacity benefit claimants waiting to be assessed for ESA, a process that should have been completed in April of this year. In evidence to the committee atos said that these referrals had been stopped. However, the DWP told the committee that this was incorrect and that they are now forwarding these cases to Atos at the rate of 5,000 a month. It is therefore likely to be well into next year before the final incapacity benefit claimants are assessed.

Existing ESA claimant re-referrals
According to the DWP and to Atos no existing ESA claimants are being reviewed, Atos call this a re-referral, unless there has been a change in their circumstances.

However, Atos did say that they have existing ESA claimants who had already been passed to them by the DWP before they stopped re-referrals but who they have not yet assessed. So some existing claimants may still find themselves called for a medical in the coming months.

You can download the transcript of the Atos evidence to the work and pensions committee here.

You can download the transcript of the DWP evidence to the work and pensions committee here.

With many thanks to ilegal.

DWP ministers said only 9% of ESA decisions were wrong.  Our research reveals the DWP have been quoting from figures which state 151,800 appeals have succeeded.  Our evidence shows the true figure to be at least 567,634 – casting serious doubt over 43% of 1,302,200 ‘fit for work’ decisions. 
 

ilegal Press Release – 16th June 2013

DWP’s internal figures reveal a much higher number of successful ESA appeals than have been made publicly available. 

A DWP reply on 13 June 2014 to a Freedom of Information Act request made as part of an investigation in to DWP figures relating to the controversial Work Capability Assessment by ilegal.org.uk has revealed that of 1,287,323 ESA appeals, at least 567,634 claimants have had the original DWP decision overturned in their favour.

Government’s key defence of the assessments has been that around 9% of all decisions are incorrect.  The most controversial of which are those where a claimant is found fit for work.  DWP figures (for new claims) show that between October 2008 and September 2013 a total of 1,306,200 fit for work decisions have been made.  

It is with considerable disappointment noted that the DWP’s latest publicly available statistics confirm that only 151,800 successful appeals have been recorded out of a total of 410,400 appeals (for new claimants only).  Our investigations reveal evidence of three times as many appeals being ‘internally recorded’ of which
567,634 have been successful.  The DWP have revealed to us figures which show nearly quarter of a million internal reconsiderations have led to decisions on new ESA claims being overturned in favour of the claimant; we have added these to figures from HMCTS tribunals which provides us with a much higher figure than the DWP seems to be prepared to admit to in their publicly available figures. 

Our intensive research into the assessment of claimants for the DWP’s Employment & Support Allowance (ESA) has, following a freedom of information request to the DWP, provided one of the final pieces of the jigsaw needed to unpick the Department’s overly complicated statistics. We now have the final clue which has enabled us to identify that no less than 567,634 ESA claimants have in fact had their initial ESA refusals overturned in their favour.

It is a startling revelation that the government department has apparently been keeping a lid on a set of statistics that clearly shows between May 2010 and June 2013 no less than 820,356 decisions were looked at again by the DWP after claimants had been assessed by the controversial private contractors Atos Healthcare. These ‘internal’ statistics show that a very substantial 232,782 (28.5%) decisions were then subsequently overturned in the claimant’s favour.

What makes this all the worse is that these reconsideration statistics come on top of separate figures that show us that of those claimants who did not have the decisions overturned in their favour by the DWP, 817,102 went on to appeal to tribunals arranged by Her Majesties’ Courts & Tribunals Service where a further 332,607 were then overturned in the claimant’s favour by the tribunal.

These figures completely negate all of the DWP’s claims that it is getting the majority of its decisions right

These figures completely negate all of the DWP’s claims that it is getting the majority of its decisions right. Government ministers in conjunction with the DWP’s Press office have been telling us that a million claimants have been found fit for work whereas these figures show that in reality this is only a small part of the true story and that huge numbers have gone on to successfully appeal decisions which were wrong.

These new figures highlight the dubious practice of using the unchallenged assessment results, which only encourage media sensationalisation, with headlines such as those appearing in the Daily Express in July 2011 stating that ‘75% on sickness benefits were faking’. The same article goes on to say that out of ‘…2.6 million on the sick, 1.9 million could work’ before receiving an endorsement from the Prime Minister with an assurance that his government was “producing a much better system where we put people through their paces and say that if you can work, you should work”.

DWP and Ministers know the truth, they just aren’t telling anyone

These figures have been available to the DWP and its ministers since April 2010 from their ‘Decision Making & Appeals Case Recorder (DMACR) – ESA Management Information Statistics’. The DWP confirms this to be unpublished information which is for internal department information only, yet our research notes that the Right Hon Chris Grayling was using the same information in answer to Parliamentary questions on the 10th January 2012.

We question then why the DWP has consistently ‘over promoted’ only the results of Work Capability Assessments relating to ‘initial’ decisions (including the opinions of Atos Healthcare in the absence of a statutory DWP decision) when it could instead have come clean and declared how hundreds of thousands of their incorrect decisions have since been overturned in favour of the person appealing.

These revelations seriously undermine the DWP’s contention that the initial Work Capability Assessment outcomes are a valid measure of the claimant’s ability to work. The DWP has consistently defended its assessments by giving an impression that only a relatively low number of decisions have been overturned whereas the reality is that well over half a million have resulted in a successful outcome for the claimant.

And this DOES NOT include the 712,000 people awaiting assessments BEFORE they can appeal

This news must have come as cause for grave concern when considered in the light of a recent revelation by DWP Minister Mike Penning which revealed that in addition to the figures we have highlighted, a further 712,000 Employment & Support Allowance claimants are awaiting assessments without which they cannot yet appeal.

This hugely unacceptable backlog of cases means people with disabling medical conditions are left hanging for months and months on a basic allowance way below what they are entitled to. This is leaving hundreds of thousands deprived of the support they require and means having to scrape by on money which is wholly insufficient to meet their needs due to disability and illness. It also means many claimants affected by severe and complex mental health conditions are facing prolonged torment as they wait month upon month for their decision to be overturned before they can even lodge an appeal.

Face up to reality: it doesn’t work. Scrap the WCA

These findings add considerably to the pleas of disabled groups all over the country to scrap the Work Capability Assessment (WCA) and to find a better way to assess their needs.

It is simply appalling that the DWP, along with Ministers and other government spokespeople appear to be feeding the media with misleading statistics that are unrepresentative of the real story and instead encourage headlines vilifying the disabled and the genuinely ill. These figures clearly show the DWP has evidence in their possession which shows how in far too many cases the decisions it is making are dead wrong and they know they’re dead wrong.

This graphic says it all…

Thanks to the Welfare News Service.

An ‘army’ of home carers are planning a virtual strike on 21 June 2014 to highlight the governments non-recognition of those who work ’round the clock’ caring for sick, elderly and/or disabled friends and relatives.

The organiser behind the event, who is unnamed but describes herself as a ‘carer with attitude’, says that she has been caring for her daughter for 13 years, whilst also working single-handedly to earn enough money to support herself and her family.

Writing on the campaign website, the organiser says: “I’ve spent those 13 years in a haze of exhaustion and poverty and anxiety, listening to other people telling me how tired, hard-working, ill-paid and hard pressed they are.”

As part of the strike, hundreds of carers (at the time of publishing this article) have signed a letter to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Iain Duncan Smith MP. The letter reads:

“Dear Iain Duncan Smith,

“I am writing to tell you about the proposed strike of the UK’s family carers on 21 June.

“Have you ever been on duty – responsible for someone’s life – 168 hours a week, week in, week out? It is quite as dreadful as it sounds. You have difficulty with everything: working, sleeping, socialising, existing. And, no, you don’t get used to it.

“Many – most – carers struggle with difficult daily conflicts between work and care, and an estimated one million have had to give up work or reduce their hours and lose much-needed income. (And often a lot of freedom, companionship and self-esteem in the bargain). As money worries cause stress, it’s hardly surprising that a lot of carers are also suffering from anxiety and depression because of finance.

“Successive governments have failed to support us.

“Loss of life, of income, of individuality. It’s a huge price to pay for love. Yet we don’t expect to be thought of as noble: we do it because we care and there are no other options . But it isn’t surprising that we would rather be thought of as the workers we are rather than the saints we are not and be treated accordingly.

“This is why we, the unpaid carers of Britain are going on strike. A strike with a difference – we Carers will only be withdrawing our labour virtually. And so, unlike with a real strike, we can ensure that our loved ones will stay alive and safe and protected.

“There is no way that the state can compensate us for the sheer amount of time we give up voluntarily. But you can prevent it from wrecking our lives and futures and making us an unwilling burden on the state when our caring work is over. We want you to recognise and recompense the work of the nation’s unpaid carers. Not for justice – though it would be just. But to ensure the country designs a robust response to the caring crisis that is coming upon us.”

The letter then lists a series of ‘modest, affordable and practical’ demands:

• 1: Carers Allowance for all live-in carers, irrespective of age or employment, just as DLA/PIP is given to those we care for.
• 2: A state-funded occupational pension scheme for each full-time carer to reflect what we might expect to have if we were working, say, only an 80 hours a week at minimum wage.
• 3: Solid practical careers advice and training for working-age carers to help us train for and sustain appropriate work within our environment and to provide us with the luxury of a working life should our caring duties finish.
• 4: Social housing to recognise the requirements of disability and caring in the allocation of rooms. Sufficient appropriate accommodation purpose-built for the disabilities of the local population – because if it is not provided this is a huge stress on carers.
• 5: State money ONLY given to organisations that offer properly targeted transport-accessible fit-for-purpose help for every carer who needs it.

The letter signs off with a plea to Mr Duncan Smith to ‘listen to our voices – The Family Carers Of Britain’.

You can add your name to the letter here.

Hat-tip: Chris Lawton.

In response to yesterday’s Sun front page, Chris Lawton has created this. He wants it shared widely!

Many thanks Benefits And Work.

There has been a massive and unprecedented fall in the number of employment and support allowance (ESA) appeals according to official figures released todayl. ESA appeals lodged in the January to March 2014 quarter were down by 89% on the same period last year.

Overall, the number of benefits appeals is 59% lower this quarter than last quarter and 79% lower than the same quarter last year. It is the most dramatic drop in appeal numbers since records began to be kept.

The huge backlog of PIP and ESA assessments has undoubtedly played a apart in the fall in appeal numbers, as has the introduction of the mandatory revision before appeal system for ESA and other benefits on 28 October 2013.

The big question now is whether appeal numbers will begin to recover as mandatory reconsiderations by the DWP are completed and claimants who are not successful move on to lodging their appeal.

However, as yet the DWP have failed to undertake any sort of research into whether the new system effectively discourages claimants from going all the way to appeal. This is in spite of request from Judge Martin, the outgoing president of the tribunals service social welfare chamber, that they do so.

Discouraging claimants may work by, for example, telephoning them as part of the process and trying to persuade them that the DWP’s decision was correct and any challenge will fail. Other tactics, such as failing to register mandatory reconsideration requests, not making appeal forms available with the mandatory reconsideration decision letters and setting strict time limits both for asking for a reconsideration and then for lodging an appeal may also have helped to cut appeal numbers.

You can download the latest statistics here.

Many thanks Benefits And Work.

In an exclusive report, The Londoner has been told that government contractor Atos was fined £30 million for errors in its delivery of the work capability assessments.

It was announced at the time that Atos had made a “substantial financial settlement” to the DWP, for “significant quality failures” in its reports on people’s ability to work.

Until now details of the fine have been kept hush-hush to avoid embarrassing the company, which is leaving the contract in February 2015.

When asked, the DWP would only respond:

“They are paying us a financial settlement but we can’t disclose the amount for commercial reasons”.

When Atos was asked the same question: “It’s all legally bound up, I can’t comment,” was the reply from its company spokesperson.

But is the £30 million correct? “Will you tell me who gave you the figure?” was Atos’s only reply.

What Benefits and Work would like to know is: what exactly were the problems with Atos’ work? The DWP never appeared to care about the poor quality of reports before.

So, was it that Atos were putting too many people in the support group without medicals?

Were decision makers disagreeing with large numbers of Atos findings?

Or was it costing the Department too much when claimants appealed because the reports were inaccurate?

Given that claimants’ well-being is very much tied up with these assessments we have a right to know exactly what it was that was going wrong.

Read the full article in the London Evening Standard

Our thanks to JL for spotting this for us

Benefits And Work, many thanks for being brilliant.

More details have emerged about the backlog of work capability assessments, which currently stands at 712,000 people.

A report by the BBC quotes the DWP as saying that:

394,000 are new claimants for ESA.

234,000 are existing ESA claimants whose reassessments have been delayed.

84,000 are people still on incapacity benefit who have not yet been moved over to ESA.

The move from IB to ESA was due to have been completed in April of this year.

Many thanks to Benefits And Work.

Mike Penning told the Commons Work and Pensions committee this morning that there are now over 700,000 people waiting for a work capability assessment (WCA) and blamed Atos for the backlog according to the BBC. Meanwhile, official figures released today show that the combined number of ESA and incapacity benefit claimants has begun a sustained rise for the first time in four years.

Following evidence to the committee earlier this week in which Atos claimed that they had delivered what they were asked to by the DWP, the government now alleges that Atos failed to provide the quality of reports needed as each tries to blame the other for the huge waiting list for ESA medicals.

What may prove most embarrassing for the DWP over coming months is the probability of a relentless rise in the number of claimants on ESA, a benefit whose purpose was to reduce the number of people claiming benefits as incapable of work.

As the graph on the right shows, after a sustained fall in numbers since August 2009, the combined total of ESA/IB claimants is now rising steadily, month by month. Although the figures from November onwards are estimates, it seems highly unlikely that the trend will reverse significantly before a new provider replaces Atos next year. Even then it is likely to take many months before any significant reduction is made in the backlog of medicals.

You can watch this morning’s meeting on parliament TV (if you can get it to work, which we couldn’t)

In response to the post reblogged below, Chris Lawton wrote this. He has allowed me to share it, and you to use it as a template. Please share widely.

To whom it may concern,

I am writing to say that I support the Oxfam campaign poster which Conservative MP Conor Burns is objecting to and am asking that any complaint against this is ignored.

The poster contained 100% fact and truth and there needs to be more of it!

Please disregard any complaints with regards this poster!

Regards,

Many thanks to the brilliant Benefits And Work.

A massive surge in appeals , increased costs and weekly parliamentary questions about tribunal waiting times were all caused by the DWP misreading a date in its own legislation and then being too embarrassed to admit it, a top judge has revealed.

Judge Robert Martin, writing in the April edition of the Judicial Information Bulletin, which goes out to all tribunal members, disclosed that the DWP panicked because they believed that from October 2013 they would have to respond to all appeals lodged by benefits claimants within 28 calendar days. There had previously been no time limit.

In fact, the legislation which introduced the new ‘mandatory reconsideration and direct lodgement of appeals’ system gave the DWP a year’s grace after its introduction for most benefits, before they had to comply with the time limit. But, says Judge Martin in a comment dripping with irony, ‘Through the kind of error anyone might make, DWP misread the commencement date’.

Believing that the time-limit applied from October 2013 rather than 2014, the DWP embarked on a massive campaign to reduce a backlog of 110,00 appeals that had been sent to the DWP by claimants but to which the DWP had yet to respond.

When they finally realised their mistake, to avoid the risk of “significant reputational damage’ the DWP agreed with the tribunals service that ‘they would act as though the start-date had, in fact, been advanced by a year’.

Thousands of additional appeals for which no extra staff provision had been made were hurried through to the tribunals service each month. As a result, according to Judge Martin:

“Throughout the first half of 2013, the Tribunal faced considerable political strain. Parliamentary questions were tabled weekly highlighting the growing waiting times for appeals to be heard and the mounting expenditure. The delay caused hardship for claimants and forensic difficulties for judges and members in trying to delve back in time to the date of the decision under appeal.”

This massive increase in appeals – a record of over 50,000 were cleared in just one month in 2013 – has now been followed by a huge drop in numbers, with an unprecedented low of just 8,775 appeals in March 2014.

In his article, Dark Matters, Judge Martin explores the many possible reasons for this sudden drop in appeals and, perhaps because of his imminent retirement as President of the social entitlement chamber, he allows his disgust with the DWP to shine like a beacon.

Judge Martin’s article, ‘Dark matter’ can be downloaded from the Rightsnet discussion forum.

The DWP is overturning more than half of its own decisions in relation to some benefits. This has been revealed by Judge Robert Martin the outgoing president of the social entitlement chamber which deals with benefits tribunals. The DWP itself has yet to publish any statistics about the ‘mandatory reconsideration before appeal’ system introduced last year.

‘Mandatory reconsideration before appeal’ was introduced for personal independence payment (PIP) and universal credit (UC) from April 2013 and, for other benefits, for decisions made on or after 28 October 2013. It means that before a claimant can appeal a decision they have to ask for it to be looked at again by the DWP. Only once they receive written notification of the result of the reconsideration can they lodge an appeal, if they are unhappy with the revised decision.

The figures for reconsideration success were given by Judge Martin in the April edition of the Judicial Information Bulletin, which goes out to all tribunal members.

According to the judge, by 21^st February 2014 the DWP had received 82,798 mandatory reconsideration requests and made a decision in 70% of cases, with decisions taking on average 13 days from the date they were received.

DLA decisions overturned 55.9%

ESA decisions overturned 23.0%

JSA decisions overturned 30.1

PIP decisions overturned 13.9%

UC decisions overturned 71.1%

It is extraordinary that the DWP is overturning a massive 71% of its own decisions in relation to UC, but at least they have the excuse that it’s a new benefit. But to be getting it wrong in more than half of all DLA decisions is even more astonishing.

Atos pulled out of the contract for carrying out DLA medicals, other than terminal illness cases, last year. Since then decision makers have been left to look up the effects of conditions in guidance issued by the DWP – and available in the members’ area of Benefits and Work site – or on the internet.

This may go some way to explaining what is such a shameful level of error in DLA decision making. But it does not in any way excuse it.

For the moment then, it seems that even for ESA challenges – with a success rate of 23% – there is a reasonable chance of getting the decision overturned prior to a tribunal hearing.

Judge Martin’s article, ‘Dark matter’ can be downloaded from the Rightsnet discussion forum.

Many thanks to the brilliant Benefits And Work.

Evidence has emerged that the DWP believes that universal credit (UC) is dead. Officially the department insists that ‘the vast majority’ of around 7 million recipients will move onto the benefit during 2016-17. Privately, however, the department is no longer predicting that there will be any universal credit appeals between now and 2019.

The revelation was made in the April edition of the Judicial Information Bulletin –which goes out to all tribunal members – by Judge Robert Martin, the outgoing president of the social entitlement chamber which deals with benefits tribunals.

Several times a year the DWP provides the tribunals service with estimates of how many appeals are likely to be generated in the next five years. This is vital for the tribunals service, who need to be able to plan how many staff to recruit and how many venues to provide for hearings. The DWP give estimates for each different type of benefit, as tribunals may be constituted differently depending on the benefit involved.

The Judge reveals that in its April 2013 forecast the DWP estimated that there would be 1,355 UC appeals in 2013-14 and 77,926 UC appeals in 2014-15. In fact, by the end of March 2014, due to the tiny number of claimants who have been able to claim UC, there had been just three appeals.

The DWP made further forecasts in December 2013 and most recently in April 2014. In the last of these the DWP estimated that there would be:

393,000 appeals in 2014-15

456,000 appeals in 2015-16

622,000 appeals in 2016-17

553,000 appeals in 2017-18

340,000 appeals in 2018-19

However, Judge Martin reveals that none of these appeals are now predicted by the DWP to be for universal credit.

It is not credible that the DWP now imagines that no claimant of UC will appeal in the next five years. The only reasonable explanation, therefore, is that the DWP now expect there to be so few people receiving the benefit that the number of appeals generated will be too small to make provision for.

In other words, when planning for the future in the real world rather than the world of departmental spin and propaganda, the DWP are making no provision whatsoever for UC.

The DWP seem unlikely to be grateful to Judge Martin for his disclosure, one of several in the article ‘Dark matter’ which can be downloaded from the Rightsnet discussion forum

I’ve just watched the Dispatches documentary Breadline Kids.

This is a short clip of Becky, 14, who featured in the film.

If you missed the whole film and would like to watch it, you can find it here.

With many thanks to the brilliant Benefits And Work.

Judge Robert Martin, the outgoing president of the social entitlement chamber which deals with benefits tribunals, has claimed that the work capability assessment (WCA) process has virtually collapsed and that DLA claimants are having their awards extended, rather than looked at again, as the DWP goes into a welfare reform induced meltdown.

The judge was writing his final article before retiring, in the April edition of the Judicial Information Bulletin which goes out to all tribunal members . As a result, he has taken the opportunity to make a number of allegations and disclosures about the DWP that might be regarded as astonishingly forthright in a serving tribunal president.

In the article, Judge Martin tries to get to the bottom of why the tribunal service went from its highest ever number of cases heard in a month – over 50,000 – in July 2013, to a record low of just 8,775 in March 2014.

He makes it clear that he blames the DWP for the difficulties caused by this wild fluctuation in workload. The judge appears particularly angry because the tribunals service had taken on a large number of new staff after the DWP predicted a prolonged period of extra appeals.

Judge Martin is in no doubt that the biggest single cause of the drop in appeal numbers is a huge reduction in the number of WCAs being carried out.

He explains that in July 2013 Lord Freud announced that, due to a reduction in the quality of written reports, all Atos health professionals were to be retrained.

Initially, the DWP warned the tribunals service that there was likely to be an increase in the number of appeals as previous assessments were reworked and then challenged by unsuccessful claimants. However, at the same time the number of assessments carried out by Atos dropped from 200,000 to 100,000 per month.

As a result the DWP changed its advice, saying that there would be a drop of 9,500 appeals from September to December 2013 whilst remedial measures were put in place. Following this there would be a big surge of appeals as Atos regained its former rate of assessments and worked on the backlog caused by the slowdown.

In fact, the recovery in the number of appeals has still not happened and, as Benefits and Work exclusively revealed, the DWP stopped referring most existing ESA claimants to Atos for reassessment from late January 2013. In addition, Judge Martin claims that:

‘Anecdotally, it appeared that an increasing proportion of ESA claimants both on new claims and IB-ESA reassessments were simply being assigned to the support group without a face to face assessment.’

Judge Martin concludes that:

‘The virtual collapse of the WCA process is the biggest single factor in the decline of the appeals intake.’

However, the judge lists many other important factors, including the extremely small number of universal credit awards and the botched and halting introduction of personal independence payment (PIP).

The judge reveals that:

‘As late as June 2013, the DWP was forecasting that HMCTS would receive over 40,000 PIP appeals by the end of March 2014. The actual PIP receipts by the end of March were just over 1,000.’

Judge Martin also has deep suspicions about what is happening in relation to disability living allowance ( DLA). He explains that the number of DLA appeals in March 2014 dropped by 80% compared to March 2013, from 5,568 down to 1,202.

He argues that this drop cannot be explained simply by the introduction of PIP, especially given that reassessment of DLA awards under the PIP rules has only been introduced in 30% of the country and that DLA claims do not require a medical assessment from Atos or Capita.

‘It becomes even more curious’, he suggests, when you realise that the DWP has recently ‘revised the level of DLA appeals expected in 2014-15 – upwards from 29,200 to 33,150.’

Judge Martin points to a possible explanation. The PIP regulations introduced a power for the DWP to extend DLA awards that were about to run out, even if the claimant is not about to be transferred to PIP. The judge claims that:

‘There is anecdotal evidence from welfare rights advisers that claimants whose DLA award is running out have simply received an extension. DWP has not disclosed the extent to which this may be happening’

Whatever the reason for the fall in the number of appeals, there seems little doubt that the DWP have made an enemy out of a man who knows – or suspects – where many of its skeletons are buried. They must be hoping very much that nobody goes and digs them up.
Judge Martin’s article, ‘Dark matter’ can be downloaded from the Rightsnet discussion forum.

Thanks to ATOS Miracles on Facebook.

The Personal Independence Payment statistics issued today show that the disability benefit system in the UK has broken down.

Disabled people are waiting over 6 months for their PIP claims to be assessed with 75% of claimants not yet having received any decision on their claim.

Excluding those who are terminally ill, of those disabled people who have actually received a decision over 50% have not been made any award at all.

In terms of action we see measures that make things worse, like the automated message on the PIP telephone helpline advising callers not to hold on if they have not yet been waiting six months for a decision.

The current situation is causing financial hardship, despair and frustration to nearly 300,000 disabled people.

Disability Rights UK demands an end to the further roll-out of PIP and urgent action be taken to reduce the scandalous backlog of PIP claims.

Many thanks to the Welfare News Service.

A father of four children threatened to ‘blow up’ his own home yesterday (4 June 2014) as he faced eviction due to the government’s controversial ‘bedroom tax’ housing policy.

52 year-old Michael Hilton from Church, East Lancashire, had been living in his social home for 30 years before being ‘hounded’ by his social landlord, Hyndburn Homes, to cover the shortfall in his rent since September 2013.

Mr Hilton was told that he would have to contribute toward the cost of his rent because a spare bedroom in his home was not being used, even though his children sometimes occupied the bedroom when they came to visit.

Mr Hilton had been stockpiling gas canisters at his home in Church, East Lancashire, and warned bailiffs that there would be an ‘explosion’ if they tried to enter.

Bailiffs reported the incident to the police who arrived at the property in Church with six cars, two police vans, police dogs, a riot van and two fire engines.

Mr Hilton’s distressed wife and son, Johnny, looked from behind police barriers as Michael barricaded himself in the property and refused to leave.

Onlookers soon gathered at the scene with one witness saying: “It’s the government this is. They are putting these taxes on vulnerable and poor people and look what happens.”

Another onlooker told the Lancashire Telegraph: “It’s been his home for 30 years. It’s a bit extreme but no-one would want to be thrown out like that”.

A police negotiator was sent to the house to try to convince Mr Hilton to leave the property voluntarily. However, police say that a decision was eventually reached to force entry into the house and detain Mr Hilton.

Mr Hilton’s 29 year-old son Johnny, said: “I knew something like this was going to happen. He has been hounded to pay bedroom tax since September last year.

“My dad has four children altogether and, sometimes, they stay here with him.

“In the eyes of the council, he has a spare room but, from his point of view, that’s a bedroom for his kids.

“I have even tried to speak to the council myself and try to sort it out. I called them last week and told them that my dad has mental health problems. He thinks he’s being persecuted.”

“He has been driven to this and I think that he feels like he is making a stand for everyone that has been faced with the unfair bedroom tax. I am very worried about him.”

Nigel Fenton, managing director of Hyndburn Homes, said:

“Any repossession of a tenant’s home is always an absolute last resort and would only happen after we have repeatedly attempted to resolve the issues and help them.

“We always try to support our tenants and assist them in any way that we can. We would always urge our tenants to discuss problems with us so that we can provide our support.

“Staff from Hyndburn Homes were at the scene and worked with the emergency services to ensure the safety of residents in the area.

“We have been made aware of gas cylinders at the rear of the property and we have been working with officers from the council to resolve this matter.”

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said:

“We were very concerned as there was a suggestion that there was petrol inside the property and we had also heard reports that he had a large number of gas canisters with him.

“We sent a negotiator in to reason with him but eventually, a decision was taken to enter the house and detain the man.”

This link has a collection of DWP statistics on PIP claims, for anyone who may be interested.

I am reposting this after reading the clarification on why it was originally published. The intention of the original publishers was not to cause worry or distress to readers- that is not my intention either.

A number of comments below have suggested that that this article may be inaccurate and scaremongering. Their concern is that there is no legislative underpinning to the suggested changes.  We did not write this article nor did we speak directly to the ATOS source.  You will need to make your own judgement about whether what you read below is accurate. 

We did speak to the author and felt that they were genuine in promoting this article.  They are a well respected disability activist known to two leading disabled person’s organisations.  We do not believe they would deliberately set out to mislead.  

A number of things about the context for the article are important to think about.  The government’s flagship problem of welfare reform is in a difficult place.  With a general election only a year away, Universal Credit has stalled and PIP is drowning in a huge backlog of claims that cannot be processed because of the length of time assessments are taking.  In this it strikes us that it is reasonable to suppose ATOS management to be looking at ways they can speed up assessments of the backlog.

It is in this context that we think there is merit in this article.  Some things such as treating people who arrive in wheelchairs as fully mobile are unlikely. But others such as only taking into account prompting when it actually happens not when someone says they generally need this seem much more likely.  Much of an assessment like this is down to the interpretation of the Health Professional and it would not be surprising that managers were trying to control that process.  

Will some of these changes speed things up?  Yes.  Would that allow IDS to claim some sucess? Yes.  Would there be a lot more appeals?  Yes.  Would the government care?   

That is why we published it.   If you still want to read the original article after all that, bear in mind that at this point its accuracy is disputed and Click the Read More button below.  

One source was contacted this evening by A Friend of long standing who is a Manager at ATOS.  They are a registered Nurse and have responsibility for PIP assessments.  For the sake of their job and their well being they have asked that they remain anonymous.  One source can attest to their veracity.

As you may be aware, PIP (Personal Independence Payment) Assessments have a long-recorded backlog.  In February this year, it was announced that these assessments has a backlog of around 80,000 people.

This news was eventually recorded by the Press and acknowledged by the DWP,  Accordingly, ATOS were charged with increasing their efforts to alleviate this backlog and permission was given by the DWP to enable assessors to do Paper Based Reviews (PBRs) of claimants.  If it was deemed that a person’s description of their needs caused by their disabilities, matched the medication they were prescribed and the condition with which they were diagnosed, then the assessors were able to award points for the descriptors for which that person claimed without the need for being seen face-to-face.

However, as of 15th May despite the adjustments, the backlog has grown to over 145,000 people waiting for PIP assessments.  The DWP, by law, is required to assess people within 18 weeks of initial application and many people were breaching these 18 weeks, causing some concern to those at the DWP, as this gives claimants a right of complaint and appeal, potentially.

Today, A Friend was summoned to a meeting of high level managers within ATOS.  Prior to entry into the meeting room, A Friend was searched by security to ensure that no-one entered with any recording device, mobile phone, tablet, pen, paper etc.

They revealed to our source the information that was given to the ATOS managers at this high level meeting.

Paper Based Reviews (PBRs)

From today – 23rd May 2014 – ANYONE who has had a PBR during the past three months will now be RECALLED for a face-to-face assessment.  Any claimants who have been awarded benefits based on a PBR may have their benefits stopped for the duration of the assessment period, and if their disabilities no longer match new clarification “guidelines” the DWP has issued in a new directive as of today, it is expected that they will be asked to repay all monies they have received.

“Clarification” changes to PIP descriptors

From Tuesday 27th May 2014 – ALL claimants will now be subjected to NEW descriptors which the DWP is insisting are merely a ‘clarification of existing guidelines”.  These descriptor clarifications have been issued with no consultation as is legally required.

Changes to the PIP descriptors assessors must now adhere to include the following:

1.  The legal application that all claimants MUST be able to do activities safely, reliably, repeatably, sustainably and in a timely manner must now be ignored.  This is no longer to be taken into account.  If a claimant can do the assessing task (ie: walk down a step unaided) once, then they must been deemed fully capable of doing that task and assessors are instructed to award them 0 points for that descriptor.  This is particularly problematic in the case of those with varying mobility needs as if they can walk say, 90 metres one day or at a certain time of day, then assessors must now deem them to be fully mobile and score 0 points.

2.  Claimants who have neurological or mental illnesses who require “prompting” or reminding to do tasks or activities are no longer to be awarded with points.    Prompting is no longer to be taken account of by assessors unless there is legal evidence of need such as carers being made available to that person 24/7.

3.  ALL medical needs must now be evidenced by LEGAL documentation.  No longer are assessors able to take as supporting evidence the accounts of care staff, social workers, support workers and carers etc.  Safeguarding recommendations are also no longer allowed to be taken into account unless there is strong supporting evidence of need. Assessors can ask if a claimant has a need for such support but claimants MUST provide evidence that they are receiving the support now.   Unless a claimant can evidence that they have an actual NEED for support, then assessors will not be able to take this into account and the claimants will be awarded 0 points on the descriptors.

4.  “Clarification” of some of the descriptors

Examples were given of clarifications (which are actually changes) to the various descriptors, which make for very bleak reading indeed.

Descriptor 1 (cooking)

Previously, for anyone who was recorded as “suicidal” or at risk of self harm with unsupervised access to a kitchen, was deemed to be at risk.  For the purposes of the PIP assessment, the kitchen (containing sharp objects, knives, gas ovens etc.) were deemed a “special place of safety” and anyone with an evidenced risk of suicide or self harm would have been given maximum points.  From today, the DWP directive states that this is no longer relevant.  Anyone with suicidal tendencies/who self harm will no longer receive points for cooking.  The DWP has stated that because they could also be at risk anywhere in their home, (by smashing a tea mug in the lounge, which they could then use to slash themselves with, for example) they can no longer deem the kitchen to be a “special place of safety”. 

A Friend went to some great length to point out that ATOS staff argued long and hard for this descriptor to be changed IN FAVOUR of vulnerable claimants.  These qualified doctors and nurses felt that the descriptor was too rigid for suicidal claimants and wanted to include bathrooms as a “special place of safety” also.  However, the DWP has gone in completely the opposite direction and now taken away that assessable safeguard.

Descriptor 3  (Care in a care home)

Previously, the DWP had stated that assessors were NOT allowed to take account of medications or therapies given to residents in care.  They had argued that, because of the care support they received in Care, this meant that they should not therefore be awarded extra disability money to support them with this activity.

However, as of Tuesday, this will now change.

Assessors are now allowed to take account of a claimants needs for medication, therapy (such as Physiotherapy etc.) and award them points accordingly.  It is believed that this is because of the awarding of the right for care home residents the protection of the Human Rights Act as of last week.

Descriptor 7 (Communication)

The DWP has “clarified” the descriptor on communication.  If a claimant is able to express a need using simple words such as “I need the toilet” – even IF these are the only words the claimant is able to say, they are to be deemed by Assessors as

FULLY COMMUNICABLE and will be awarded 0 points.

Descriptor 8 (Reading)

A claimant is to be assessed as being able to read and write with no impairment if they are able to read a simple sentence such as “a cat sat on a mat”. 

If the claimant is able to read two simple sentences, such as “stick out your tongue.  Lift up your arm.”  and carry out the instruction they have read they will get 0 points for reading impairment.

If a claimant is able to use Makaton symbols and other signs or aids to communicate and can use these to follow out a similar simple instruction they will have to be assessed as FULLY CAPABABLE and will receive 0 points.

Descriptor 9 (Engaging)

I have already described how safeguarding recommendations by non-medical professional will not longer have to be taken into account unless legally and medically evidenced.  Under this descriptor, only EXCEPTIONAL circumstances which can demonstrate a clear threat to the general public (not to the person themselves) can points be awarded now for engaging. 

The claimant MUST now produce clear legally verifiable evidence that they are indeed such a threat.  The evidence that will be accepted includes:

– A criminal record for such actions

– Having been sectioned and detained under the Mental Health Act

All other evidence, including prompting to do activities must be ignored by the assessors and such claimants will be awarded 0 points. 

Descriptors 9 through 11

From now on, only those claimants who have been ASSESSED for and provided with FULL time care – whether via paid or unpaid carers will be awarded points.

Claimants must either be in full time residential care or have the support of a carer 24/7 in order to get an award.

Descriptor 10 Budgeting and money handling

Claimants will from Tuesday ONLY be awarded points if they have an appointee, power of attorney for financial affairs, or some similar arrangement.  Unless a claimant can demonstrate that they are completely unable to manage their finances they will be awarded 0 points.

Once again, safeguarding recommendations by social services or care support will no longer be taken account of.

Descriptor 12  Mobility.

As of Tuesday next week, the requirement that claimants must be able to walk fewer than 20 m safely, reliably, repeatably, sustainably and in a timely manner without pain will NO LONGER APPLY. 

If any claimant is able to access an ATOS assessment centre EVEN IF IN A WHEELCHAIR they will be deemed fully mobile and score 0 points automatically.

The DWP have said that the directive WILL be available to anyone from Tuesday under Freedom Of Information Act requests.  They may contact the PIP help desk and request a copy.  Staff are to inform them that the copy “may take between 3 and 6 MONTHS” to arrive.

A further change to PIP assessments has also been implemented by the DWP.  A few months ago, the DWP ran a pilot programme where DWP CALL CENTRE staff – who are not medically trained – were given 200 claimants cases to assess and act as Decision Makers on their cases.

Despite protests from both DWP staff and ATOS staff, the DWP has now decided the Pilot was a ‘success’ and from Tuesday this programme will be rolled out in full for all claimants.  Claimants will no longer be able to guarantee that their claims will be decided by fully trained DWP decision makers.

ATOS staff wish to make it known how deeply distressed and unhappy they are at these changes.

Our source can attest that this is a true statement as it was told to them. 

Our source is  passing this information to you in order that action can be taken to prevent a potential humanitarian disaster from occurring for the disabled population of the UK.

Updated 30/5: This appears to be a hoax, thankfully, for now. However, this is why I believed it, and why it will stay here, as a reminder to me not to immediately believe everything I hear.

I’ve just found this and I think it should go viral, because it shows what they really think of us.

For the first time ever Jobcentre Plus, in partnership with local authorities, will implement a new approach that focuses support solely on 16-17 year olds who are not in education, employment or training and not in receipt of an income-based benefit.

From today, 16 and 17-year-olds will be given access to Jobcentre work coaches so that they can get individual help to find work and training, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Employment Minister Esther McVey have announced today.

The trained work coaches will help young people navigate the wide array of services on offer and tap into local employment and training opportunities. If successful, this new way of helping young people will be rolled out across England.

The number of 16 and 17 year olds who are not in education or training is now at the lowest level since records began, with 94% either working, studying or training.

Hundreds of young people could benefit as the first part of the initiative launches today in Lewisham, Norfolk, Hertfordshire and Sheffield. Work coaches in Jobcentres will give one-to-one help from CV writing, interview skills, providing access to training or job matching.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said:

As our economy gets stronger, we need to make sure that every single young person shares in the recovery and gets help to reach their potential.

For the first time 16 and 17-year-olds who need help to find work or training will have access to Jobcentres where they will get tailored support from a work coach.

We need to do all we can to help them gain essential skills for work so they can play their part in securing Britain’s long term success, building a stronger economy and fairer society for this generation and the next.

This radical new pilot will give young people additional support from Jobcentre work coaches, who will use their local expertise and employer networks to help reduce young people’s chances of becoming long-term unemployed. The plan will see Jobcentres join forces with local authorities, employers, charities and local community organisations to provide access to all the best opportunities for young people.

Minister for Employment Esther McVey said:

Every young person deserves the best chance in life so they can secure their future. Youth unemployment is falling and the economy is growing, so as part of the government’s long-term economic plan we need to make sure every young person gets the help they need to benefit from the improving jobs market.

Jobcentre work coaches have a huge amount of expertise, experience and local labour market knowledge, and we want to use that to help young people get their foot in the door to the career they want. Together with local authorities, employers and charity groups we want to make sure that young people, from all walks of life, have got the networks, the role models and the confidence to succeed in the growing economy.

Every young person is different, so the support they receive will be uniquely tailored to them. Jobcentre work coaches have a huge amount of expertise and have seen great success supporting over 18s into work, which is why this system is being trialled for young people.

Support on offer through Jobcentre work coaches could include work experience, work taster courses, pre-apprenticeship support and meeting with employers to get a window into a wide variety of sectors and roles. They could also help with employability and work preparation, training focusing on career aspirations and team building. If needed, they’ll also work with organisations like the Prince’s Trust and other providers to ensure young people can get valuable skills and experience.

The number of unemployed young people fell by 48,000 in the last 3 months, and has been falling now for the last 8 months. It is down by 75,000 since 2010 and youth unemployment excluding those in full-time education is now at its lowest level since 2008.

More information

The Deputy Prime Minister announced this pilot in a speech in February

Currently, in rare circumstances, some disadvantaged 16-17 year olds who are claiming benefits are helped by Jobcentre Plus. This pilot is for 16-17 year olds not participating in education, employment or training (NEET) who are not claiming benefits. Participation on the pilot will be completely voluntary.

The pilot will run for up to 18 months and will be extended in the autumn to include a further 25 local authorities.

NEET figures released last week showed that 94.2% of 16 and 17-year-olds are participating in education and training, the highest comparable participation rate since consistent records began in 2001.

These pilots build on the offer to young people through the 16-17 year old Youth Contract, which specifically targets young people who are NEET and who are considered to be disengaged or hardest to reach and support them into education, training or a job with training.

FRONTLINE Jobcentre staff renewed their campaign yesterday to scrap Tory benefit sanctions they are forced to hand down to Britain’s worst off.

Civil servants protested at PCS conference about the impact of the government’s welfare policies they witness everyday at work.

Unemployment benefit of just £71 per week can be stopped for two weeks under sanctions introduced by Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith.

Jobcentre worker Martin Humphrey told delegates about the “depressing” task of telling people their benefits have been stopped.

He said: “We have to say to people that they have to live on nothing for two weeks.

“To make people destitute for two weeks is despicable.”

Jobcentre staff exposed once again how they are given sanction targets to hit — a claim Mr Duncan Smith continues to deny.

Britain’s pensioners are also given just £110 a week while disabled people face cruel tests by private comapanies, PCS vice president John McInally pointed out.

He said the result has been soaring demand at food banks, a rise in homelessness and hate attacks on disabled people.

And he said: “As a union, we have a duty to stand up for our members and our services.

“It’s disgraceful that our members’ job to help people is being turned on its head in order to attack the most poor and vulnerable.”

Department for Work and Pensions rep Fran Heathcote said frontline civil servants had been the target for anger from disabled, elderly and unemployed people stripped of benefits.

But she said: “PCS members understand and share the concerns of the people we serve every day.

“They want to help the unemployed find work and pay benefits to pensioners, the sick and the disabled.”

Delegates resolved to fight welfare attacks alongside groups like Disabled People Against Cuts (DPac) and other trade unions.

The union also committed to exploring the viability of a universal basic income to replace Mr Duncan Smith’s failing Universal Credit scheme.

Leeds delegate Annette Wright pressed the union for a campaign of non-compliance with benefit sanctions.

She argued that legal advice given to the union would allow civil servants to boycott sanctions if PCS “first of all identifies a legitimate trade dispute.”